Crude futures rose Thursday, as concerns about an explosion at America's third-largest oil refinery overrode the bearish pull of U.S. figures showing a huge increase in crude inventories. Light, sweet crude for May delivery was up 11 cents to US$53.92 a barrel by late morning in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The benchmark commodity had dropped US$2.22 on Wednesday after the inventory data was released but before the explosion. Heating oil rose less half a cent to US$1.5390 a gallon (3.8 liters). Brent crude, meanwhile, was up 24 cents to US$53.28 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.
